Lewis Hamilton has been given a 10-place grid penalty for the French Grand Prix as a result of the pitlane crash that ended his race and that of Kimi Raikkonen during the Canadian Grand Prix today.

The punishment was handed out by FIA race stewards after they reviewed the incident in which Hamilton ran into the back of Raikkonen as the Ferrari driver was observing a red light in the pit lane on lap 18 of the race, which was eventually won by Robert Kubica.

Nico Rosberg of Williams was given the same 10-place drop on the grid after he ran into the back of Hamilton’s McLaren Mercedes in the same incident.

Hamilton had looked on course to repeat last season's victory in Montreal, the first of his career, having made a sensational start from pole position in his McLaren.

But having opened up a sizeable gap of around six seconds, the safety car was brought out to allow marshals to remove the Force India car of Adrian Sutil which had caught fire after being retired at the side of the track.

The field then bunched up behind the safety car, with most of the front-runners seizing on the opportunity under yellow flags to dive into the pits for new tyres on lap 18 and Hamilton appeared to panic when he saw his race lead vanishing as Robert Kubica and Raikkonen both made their exit from their respective garages ahead of him. The Ferrari and BMW Sauber drivers both then stopped at a red light, awaiting the all-clear to rejoin the track from pitlane, a signal that a flustered Hamilton clearly did not see as he ploughed into the back of Raikkonen’s car, removing both drivers from the race.

Hamilton recorded the first Formula One victory of his career at Montreal last year, but there was to be no repeat this time, his one saving grace being that he had also removed his main rival for this year's title - and last season's world champion - in the same incident.

Kubica went on to claim his maiden victory and the lead in the drivers’ championship in the process. The Pole survived a horrendous crash at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve 12 months ago but drove a superb race to take full advantage of his rivals' failings.

It was a BMW Sauber one-two as Nick Heidfeld claimed the runners-up spot for the second year in a row. The drama also cleared the way for Scotland’s David Coulthard to score his first points of the season with an invaluable third-place finish to ease the pressure on his seat at Red Bull Racing.

Results: 1. Robert Kubica (POL/BMW Sauber) 1hr 36min 24.447sec, 2. Nick Heidfeld (GER/BMW Sauber) at 16.495sec, 3. David Coulthard (GBR/Red Bull) 23.352, 4. Timo Glock (GER/Toyota) 42.627, 5. Felipe Massa (BRA/Ferrari) 43.934, 6. Jarno Trulli (ITA/Toyota) 47.775, 7. Rubens Barrichello (BRA/Honda) 53.597, 8. Sebastian Vettel (GER/Toro Rosso) 54.120, 9. Heikki Kovalainen (FIN/McLaren) 54.433, 10. Nico Rosberg (GER/Williams) 57.749, 11. Jenson Button (GBR/Honda) 1:07.540, 12. Mark Webber (AUS/Red Bull) 1:11.229, 13. Sebastien Bourdais (FRA/Toro Rosso) 1 lap. Note: The other drivers were not classified.

Overall standings

Drivers 1. Robert Kubica (POL) 42pts, 2. Lewis Hamilton (GBR) 38, 3. Felipe Massa (BRA) 38, 4. Kimi Raikkonen (FIN) 35, 5. Nick Heidfeld (GER) 28, 6. Heikki Kovalainen (FIN) 15, 7. Mark Webber (AUS) 15, 8. Jarno Trulli (ITA) 12, 9. Fernando Alonso (ESP) 9, 10. Nico Rosberg (GER) 8, 11. Kazuki Nakajima (JPN) 7, 12. David Coulthard (GBR) 6, 13. Timo Glock (GER) 5, 14. Sebastian Vettel (GER) 5, 15. Rubens Barrichello (BRA) 5, 16. Jenson Button (GBR) 3, 17. Sibastien Bourdais (FRA) 2

Constructors

1. Ferrari 73pts, 2. BMW Sauber 70, 3. McLaren 53, 4. Red Bull 21, 5. Toyota 17, 6. Williams 15, 7. Renault 9, 8. Honda 8, 9. Toro Rosso 7